In China, the air is so filthy and the smog is so crushing that beautiful blue skies can only exist …
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According to local news reports, the China Meteorological Administration is planning to allow local weather authorities to use cloud seeding to create rain—which should in turn clear the smog. Or so they hope.

The technique the Chinese use involves firing rockets carrying a payload of silver iodide particles into the clouds. Ice crystals then form from super-cooled liquid water in the clouds, using the particles as nucleation points. The crystals fall as rain or snow depending on the temperature below. The idea is that the artificial precipitation should clear the smog below... [But] smog is made of particulates of soot and dust, which should already have acted as ice nuclei. If it hasn't rained already... then adding more particulates in the shape of silver iodide won't help.

So, it might sound like a great idea, but it remains to be seen whether or not it will work in practice. Here's hoping, for all those that live in China's smog-ridden cities, that it at least helps a little. [New Scientist]